


The Defence Rests (In Pieces)

by klementienchen (orphan_account), Sara Generis (kanadka)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen, Historical Hetalia, Historical References, Legal Drama, Period Typical Attitudes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 09:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15627753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/klementienchen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanadka/pseuds/Sara%20Generis
Summary: It's 1932 and Prussia is taking his brother to court.





	The Defence Rests (In Pieces)

**Author's Note:**

> This is something both of us have wanted to write about for a long time, and we're glad for the opportunity of the aph A Brief History of Time event to sit down and finally write it!

**prologue (1918-1932)**

Prussia, thought the young Deutsches Reich - simply 'Germany' to his new friends in the League of Nations - was acting terribly out of character. When the Great War ended in 1918, so did the monarchy. And now, for perhaps the first time since the enlightenment, Prussia was looking towards socialism. Surely this would only lead to more revolution?

Germany thought to split Prussia up in order to stop this from happening. After all, big brother had taught him best: divide and conquer your rebellious states to subdue them into control. In 1919, Germany suggested the thought that he might rearrange his internal states - the Länder - so that Prussia and his newfound left-leaning politics couldn't dominate the Reich as a whole.

A tricky thing, this constitution, which allowed the Reich certain powers and each Land within him certain powers of their own, which Germany couldn't touch. The Länder refused him; no Land wanted to be rearranged, least of all Prussia, who was quite happy with his own state of affairs.

Between 1918 and 1924, the Reichsmark underwent hyperinflation. This caused havoc in the stock market, the occupation of the Ruhr area in the West by France, and general misery for the population. But not for Prussia! Prussia weathered the storm relatively well. Prussia was larger, Prussia had more people, and also Prussia had more industry. Prussia was keeping his balance.

"Nice to see you're doing so well," said young Germany.

"Hey! It's not all skittles and beer," said Prussia, who had just come from a club in Berlin. "Ostpreußen and Eifel aren't exactly having a cakewalk. And I'm not pleased about these Ruhr issues!"

Germany thought back to that very morning, where he had left the house with enough money to buy bread. By the time he had finished dealing with that day's groups who were profiting off of inflation-induced political instability - like the Black Reichswehr, like the Nazi putsch in Munich, and like the communists taking over the governments in Saxony, Thuringia, and the Rhineland and declaring independence - and he had finally arrived at the bakery, the price had risen so much that he could only afford a Brötchen. Germany said nothing and sneered.

In 1924, things began to get a little better for Germany. England asked France to back off in the Ruhr area in the west, and Germany borrowed some money from his new friend America, through his Wall Street bond issues, to pay the reparations he couldn't currently afford.

"You sure that's a great idea?" asked Bavaria.

Bavaria had been giving Germany no end of problems, especially in the beer halls in Munich. "Just ten years," said Germany. "Just ten little years. Then we'll have enough to pay him back."

Five years later the American stock market crashed.

Germany wasn't alone, of course - the depression was global, anywhere that was affected by American capitalism which at the time was just about everywhere outside of Russia's new Soviet Union - but his industry plummeted to levels it hadn't seen since before the Great War.

In 1930, Germany's grand coalition of government broke apart, and he enacted yet another emergency decree to govern himself. This wasn't anything new. He'd been doing it for awhile, in fact. No government seemed to last longer than two years.

"How long you think you can keep that routine together?" asked Baden.

"Don't remind me," muttered Germany. "People are getting sick of elections. If this keeps up they won't come out to vote."

"You could try courting the brownshirt voters," offered Bavaria. "They're pretty passionate. But you'd have to lift the bans on them."

"The bans that _Prussia_ wanted enacted," said Germany.

So it was to Prussia's door that Germany came knocking.

"Look," said Prussia, when he opened, "I'm not exactly sitting pretty right now, 'Schland."

"I'm doing even worse!" complained Germany.

"Always about you, isn't it," murmured Prussia. He leaned on the doorframe and folded his arms over his chest. "Well, let's have it then."

In contrast to the overall situation in the Reich - government after government with coalitions that didn't last - the Free State of Prussia had enjoyed an unbroken and persistently stable government all the way back to 1919. From 1919 to 1932, Prussia had been governed by a coalition led by the Social Democrats along with the Centre Party and the liberal German Democratic Party - and this was a major thorn in Germany's conservative forces. How could left-leaning democracy be _working_ for Prussia? This was Prussia's first time at it! It wasn't fair!

It was true that after Prussia's Landtag vote in April 1932, the Communists and the National Socialists now held over half the seats between them. But they wouldn't cooperate with each other, or with other parties. Under Prussia's constitution, a government could only be removed from office if there was a positive majority for a prospective successor. And since the Communists and National Socialists wouldn't cooperate with each other, or with other parties, there was no realistic alternative government. So the coalition led by the Social Democrats remained in office, even after the Social Democrats had bled voters to the extreme right and the extreme left.

"What do you _mean_ , it's always about me!" cried Germany. "You're the odd man out in this situation! The rest of us are having a bitch of a time and here's you, partying it up in Berlin!"

"You know what's been a _party_ in Berlin, is the arrest warrant we put out against this Hitler fellow, that you ignored," said Prussia angrily. "I've been trying to control these right-wing gatecrashers and you've done nix about it!"

"Their leader can't even walk around Berlin without a mask on," said Germany, "that doesn't seem right. And you banned letting them march in your territory. Whatever happened to free speech?"

"Free speech is one thing. He's got bold ideas, and you can't force me to like him," said Prussia. "Look, I sent you an entire dossier of goods about the straight anti-constitutional activities that this crew's been getting up to. You wouldn't have done shit if I hadn't. You barely did anything at all."

"They're a voice for the majority of the people," argued Germany. "The people are listening to that. Majority means control, means we can get back to normal. _Do you have any idea how badly I crave normal._ Majority means majority! Or isn't that _democracy?_ Tell me, have I missed something?"

Prussia pursed his lips, which meant something in what Germany was saying had some sway. "The people are terrified and broke. They don't know what they want, and saps are easy to manipulate," said Prussia. "These groups aren't doing things by the numbers. They're _grabbing_ for control."

"And since when do _you_ have a problem with that?" snapped Germany.

Prussia glared. He straightened, then he slammed the door in his brother's face.

\--

In late June 1932, Germany lifted the ban on the Sturmabteilung and Schutzstaffel throughout the Reich. Though Prussia's own internal bans remained active, it was difficult to see what bans were enforced where, and the SA and the SS marched around where they pleased.

This led to recurrent riots, and open street fighting. Germany made a mental note to check in with Prussia, where both Communists and Nazi support had been high, but never made it back until Altona, just north of Hamburg, hit the news. The north had been where the left-wing sailor's rebellion had begun, in 1917, that deposed the monarchy; and now some seven thousand National Socialists had descended on the town. Honestly, they were lucky it was _only_ 18 dead.

Germany did what he'd been doing in his own government for the past decade: declared a state of emergency. The difference was now that with an emergency decree declared in Prussia, he had the right to finally take control of Prussia's government.

So he did.

\--

**Part 1 : interim injunction (July, 1932)**

So his little brother thought he could do better in Prussia's own land with a conservative right government, and had deposed everybody that Prussia himself had appointed. Hah!

Well, what to do about this?

Prussia was tempted to resist, naturally. He was angry enough to take up arms. But he hadn't resisted after the calamity that was Jena and Auerstedt, when some asshole called Napoleon had come in and taken down the place. Then, Prussia had pretty much capitulated. He had had no choice. And everything turned out alright in the end.

(But in fact, he did resist, eventually. It was just a delay in resisting the power change takeover. Eventually it _had_ come to blows - the Battle of Leipzig was one such blow. Waterloo was one giant blow!)

The problem was that Bavaria and Baden were equally concerned.

"If he can do it to you," said Bavaria, "he could do it to us."

"It'd be even easier for him to do it to you," said Prussia, "you're sitting ducks." Bavaria soured, but nodded.

"I don't like the sound of any of this," said Baden, annoyingly reasonably, "but this is the twentieth century, now. We should fight this the way Germany wants to fight this."

"In court, without weapons," supplied Bavaria.

"Yep. I agree," said Prussia.

All three of them waited in a beat of silence.

Prussia looked up and around. At last he said, "Huh. And we weren't even struck down where we stood. Would you look at that."

"Is it really _that_ surprising we would agree with each other?" asked Baden, but the way he asked it told Prussia that he too had his doubts.

Bavaria scoffed. "Please. God wouldn't give _you_ the time of day," he said, but he was grinning, and Prussia hadn't seen Bavaria grin in awhile.

If the emergency decree - as they were calling the Preußenschlag - had only been the appointment of a Reich commissioner to take control of the Prussian police force, that might not have been so bad. Germany's previous ministers had contemplated doing this so that the police force wouldn't fall under control of the Nazi paramilitary groups. Prussia didn't want the paramilitary getting their hands on his police, either.

But the charges Prussia received on the emergency decree enactment were justified two-fold. One, on the basis that he could not control the peace. (Horseshit, but he could argue that.) And two, on the basis that Prussia had violated duties to the Reich. How, the decree didn't exactly specify, and the vagueness was suspicious. But based on those two items, there would be a permanent transfer of power in Prussia to the Reich. That meant all parts of Prussia's government, now in Germany's hands. Germany said this decree would let him remove any Prussian minister from their office - and he had begun doing exactly that, reappointing his own from elsewhere in the Reich with right-leaning views.

Moreover, it would eliminate Prussia's independence that was supposed to be guaranteed by the constitution they'd all signed in Weimar. That wasn't on.

First, Prussia filed an interim injunction with the Staatsgerichtshof - the Constitutional Court - against the Reich, immediately after the emergency decree was enacted. Germany would receive the paper copy once it was processed in Leipzig with the Supreme Court. In the meantime, Prussia wanted the Reich Commissioner - that asshole that Germany had appointed - to quit exercising his duties, like dismissing all of Prussia's appointed representatives, telling Prussia's people what to do, and speaking for Prussia because 'poor little Prussia was still in a state of emergency and couldn't _handle_ himself'. If Prussia got his injunction, he could make grabby Germany stop before things got out of hand.

_The installation of the Reich's provisional government in Prussia is completely unconstitutional_ , wrote Prussia in his application. With respect to his own Prussian constitution, a government could not be replaced unless it was with a government that had received proper support. Now, the Staatsgerichtshof was the guardian of the constitution. Then, it had to respect Prussia's.

Of course, this injunction was only the first step Prussia had planned. It was an interim remedy where, if granted, Prussia could preserve his status quo at least until the dispute between Germany and him had resolved. To resolve that, he'd need a court case.

By the time the oral proceedings took place, on the 23rd and 25th of July, Prussia had done some thinking.

"I see you've made some changes," said Germany.

"I want to make it very, painfully clear what I intend," replied Prussia. "Point one. Your Reich Commissioners can't call themselves Minister President, Minister of State, or a member of the State Government of Prussia."

"Name-calling isn't my game," said Germany.

"Only _my_ state ministers are permitted those statuses," Prussia continued. "Point two: your Reich Commissioners can't represent me in the Reichstag without the power of the Minister of State of Prussia."

"Oh, I see," said Germany. "Only _your_ people with those statuses can grant the power for _my_ provisional government to be represented."

"Exactly, and you can't go around them, or deprive them of the ability to represent me anywhere, or revoke my plenipotentiary powers in the Reich."

Germany rolled his eyes. "Big word," he said. "You learn that one in the clubs too?"

" _Don't touch my powers_ ," said Prussia sternly. "I can, and I will, speak for myself. You don't have the right to represent me, and you don't have the right to permanently appoint or dismiss my officials."

Germany sat across from him as the Constitutional Court decided on the injunction. The young Deutsches Reich was snotty, thought Prussia. He clearly thought he'd already win, that he had this already in the bag and that bringing his brother to heel was simply another check mark on his to-do list, and it'd be over in time for him to grab a late lunch at the cantine.

"You know, I never expected this from you," said Germany. "I've had to do this with the other states -" he gestured to Baden and Bavaria, standing to the side, waiting for their turn - "but it was never this bad and this decisive."

"Eighteen dead, that's no emergency, it's an excuse," said Prussia.

"Well, I learned from the best," said Germany, "how to bring wayward provinces into submission."

Prussia glowered. "I make up two-thirds of you. Have some respect! You don't even see the scars anymore after _I_ patched you up." He lowered his voice to a lethal rasp. "Be a shame if I had to give you new ones."

"Oh no, this is a democracy now," said Germany smarmily, "don't you remember? You don't get to throw your weight around when you, too, have to play fair."

"Your democracy works best within my borders," argued Prussia. "I already know how to play fair. Do you?"

\--

The Staatsgerichtshof returned on the 25th with their ruling. The interim injunction was refused.

"Hah!" said Germany. "So! No injunction for you."

"Read the fine print," said Prussia, who had snatched the paper to read it first. He slammed the paper into Germany's chest. "No injunction, but I get my court case."

Germany took the paper and scanned it. As he read, he grew angrier. "You can't take me to court!" he cried, "I'm your _brother!_ " 

"I absolutely can take you to court and I will. Bavaria! Baden!" barked Prussia, snapping his fingers. "C'mon. It's time to lawyer up!"

\-- 

**Part 2 : Preußen contra Reich (October 1932)**

The proceedings did not take place until that October, which gave Prussia (and Baden, and Bavaria) time to gather their lawyers. Prussia chose carefully a team of democratically-minded academics: Heller, Brecht, Anschütz, left-leaning men with reputation and experience in constitutional law.

Germany too had time for a careful choice.

"Schmidt?" said Prussia, dumbfounded. "That's betrayal, is what that is. He's one of mine!"

" _Was_ one of yours," said Germany. From Germany's side of the courtroom, Schmidt smirked, Prussia could _swear_ it.

Schmidt was bad news, because Schmidt was awfully conservative. A good thinker, from a Roman Catholic family, but evidently not too Roman Catholic to avoid divorce and remarriage. Likely the point of contention for him was how much Prussia had served as a base for the left in the past decade, and had provided the left with political and institutional power in the hands of the Prussian police.

Between the emergency decree in July and October, Germany's men, Schleicher and von Papen - both right-wing - had already begun cracking down on what they thought was cultural immorality running rife through Prussia, such as the homosexuality that was technically illegal but that the Prussian police never bothered to curtail. Von Papen particularly had been looking for reasons to control Prussia since the very beginning of his new tenure as Chancellor, and so it was no surprise he tried to pin the blame on the unrest on Prussia's minister president, Braun.

If you listened to von Papen, Braun had personally ordered Prussia's police to support the Communists against the Nazis. Never mind that Braun's Social Democrats had been fighting in the streets with the Communists, too! The Communists would tell anybody who listened that they didn't side with the Social Democrats, who were left but not left enough. Von Papen had no proof, but it _sounded_ bad, and the false news was damning enough these days.

If you listened even more to von Papen, he'd tell you it was a good idea to placate the National Socialists in an attempt to control the man behind the NSDAP. Lightweights, all of them, trying fruitlessly to hold back a bull - they'd fail, and they'd be gored.

That was, Prussia believed, his only advantage: Germany having selected the people he did would influence his argumentation. And Prussia knew these men, which gave him a strategic advantage to anticipate how Germany would argue. Prussia would have to be clever, and he'd have to be loud. Well, no problem on either count. He'd present the facts, and he'd slap them snappily home in Germany's face. Across from Germany's Gottheiner, Prussia had Badt, who had been up in arms from the moment the emergency decree was declared in July, and who would have flown directly to Leipzig to file the injunction, but the Reich had grounded the plane. So he _drove_ , and nine hours later had the filing. Prussia's people were ready for action, and so too was he.

But the zeal and cleverness of his legal team aside, part of Prussia wondered if he weren't watching a sinking ship. There was something about the way the atmosphere was charged. Prussia had begun this year believing, as he had since the start of the 20s, in democracy - monarchist at heart or not, he didn't do things by half - and it began to feel like he was playing a game where the odds were stacked against him. This system couldn't be this easily rigged. The people couldn't this easily be tricked. Could it? Could they?

The oral proceedings began stormy on the 10th and got worse through the 17th. "The civil war-like conditions that _led_ to this emergency decree," Prussia found himself screaming, "were _caused_ by you, because you lifted the ban on these marching brownshirts! The only reason you care about doing that is to placate them, because your political leaders need to gather their votes. So what, so they try and court the Nazi voters?"

"The people want what they want," said Germany, dismissive.

"You wouldn't _have_ to court extremist voters," argued Prussia, "if it weren't for the fact that you - unlike me! - have no stability in your government and can't keep a government together under ordinary conventional means any longer than two years!"

"Ordinary means!" Germany blurted. "What _exactly_ are you saying, brother? What do you think I did? Be clear, don't be shy!"

The presiding officer rapped on the table. "Facts, not implicatures, gentlemen. Er, gentle-nations."

"Now _that's_ a matter of opinion," said Prussia.

"Says the sodomite," Germany muttered.

"You _agreed to the rules!_ " Prussia thundered. "You don't get to sneak around them if you can't hold a government together! What country worth their salt can't make that happen? How many times will you call an election, build a coalition, and dissolve your parliament at the drop of a hat?"

Germany glowered. "And whose fault is this instability, brother?" he said. "The great war that _your_ imperialism led _me_ into has led me to this state! Take some responsibility!"

"Responsibility!" Prussia shrieked. "I _told_ you this was your country now! And you've already gone and said you don't want to pay reparations anymore. So if that's your insurance to regain your stability, why the need to take out a policy on me, hm?"

"You think you're so popular," said Germany bitterly. "You think you're so enviable and you're so _necessary_."

"I _am!_ " Prussia protested. "I'm a dog you can't muzzle, and that's pissing you off! Oh, when things do well, you take responsibility perfectly happily. And when things don't, you want someone else to take the fall for you. Yes, I get it. Well, that's not very responsible of you! If you want me to take responsibility for the fault, you'd better be prepared for me to take responsibility for the good, too."

"If that's a threat, I've men watching," said Germany.

"Your lack of stability - your lack of _control_ \- hasn't extended to my government, which has been stable and democratic since 1919," said Prussia. "Meanwhile you start courting voters in the right and you think that'll _reduce_ your instability? You're a fool and an idiot and I _know_ I taught you better than this because I remember giving the lesson. So what, you didn't listen closely enough?" Prussia shook his head. "No, you're doing this for one reason, and one reason only. You want to take the wind out of my sails, because these madmen, these brownshirts, have convinced you that my democracy is the last thing standing in your way to control. But it's not control. It's their vision of a state. And so you've caused all of this to remove my government!" He could only laugh. "Well, brother! You've certainly got my attention."

Germany applauded, slow and sarcastic. "Let no one say you don't have an imagination," he said, "your conspiracy theories sure are fantastic. I was _trying_ to help you!"

Prussia guffawed. "Help!" he said. "I don't need your help! I've _never_ needed your help! _I'm_ the one who offers _you_ help!"

"That pent-up tension you described, against the NSDAP, that was your doing! Your government has been stalling and banning them for years."

"You're not dumb enough to think I'm not without my reasons," said Prussia.

Germany put up his hands. "Your alliance against the NSDAP, and with Communism, can't be tolerated in this country. _My_ country, as you so described it. I won't allow these ideas in my borders. And right now _you're_ within my borders. Lifting the ban on the right-wing marchers was intended to be a valve against that. You just don't know how to release pressure."

" _Gentlemen_ ," said the presiding officer. "Is this a court case or fraternal bickering?"

" _Look_ at us," sneered Prussia. "It's a bit of both!"

They broke, and returned, and fought, and broke again, and returned again, and a week after they had begun, the lawyers had had their say, and through the lawyers Prussia and Germany had each had their say.

Germany had had seven accusations against his brother: that he was dependent on the Communists (illogical, and without any proof), that his state ministers had made two treasonous speeches (Germany had a funny idea of what treason looked like), that he amended the rules of business in his parliament (Prussia's Landtag? _Prussia's rules._ ), that he took too long to appoint a new government (absurd when his old government had been doing a stellar job before it was _unlawfully dismissed_ ), that he misused discretion when issuing firearms licences (Germany wouldn't clarify whether he thought Prussia was too discrete, or not discrete enough, but in any case the guns weren't going where Germany wanted them to go, and that was because Germany didn't seem to have a problem with them falling into the hands of his right-wing paramilitary marchers), and last but not least, that he exceeded budget spending. 

"The budget," said Prussia flatly. "You think I exceeded the _budget_."

"The numbers don't match," said Germany. "You're not spending enough on the Reichswehr."

"Alright, then let's look again!" shouted Prussia, and they lost a day to calculations because his little brother was bad at math when the opportunity called for it. Prussia wasn't sure if Germany was trying to stall for time but if he was, it was a move that only made him look inept. Honestly, money to the Reichswehr, in light of the ongoing Geneva negotiations, when Germany - and every other nation who made their home there, all the Länder that remained - wasn't supposed to be overspending in that area specifically. It wasn't in Germany's best interest even to discuss such things aloud.

Not one of these accusations held up in court. Germany had had no proof.

"But even if you had proof," said Prussia, "I'm _still_ not guilty in whatever dereliction of duties you think I committed, because all of these accusations you made were internal matters that _I_ was supposed to take care of."

"But you didn't take care of them, and you wound up in a state of emergency, _brother!_ " said Germany.

"You didn't even _let me try!_ " Prussia yelled. "You think you can just come down here and pick up my ledgers and do a better job? You don't have the power for that! I checked! There's no way you can legally depose my government. These decisive actions were to be a worst-case measure!"

"And the situation called for a worst-case measure!" shouted Germany. "I should know, haven't I been dealing with these people for the past ten years, while _you_ blocked them at every turn? I know they're dangerous! For God's sake, Prussia, I'm only trying to help!"

"Your government," began Prussia, "has already acted against your own constitution by dissolving the parliament twice just so you can prevent a vote of no confidence against itself. And now you think you know better than me how to rule my land, do you?

"I," Prussia continued, "am the _reason_ you exist. It was my doing that I founded _you_ , that _I_ was your meeting point from east to west. I should have flourished within you. And instead you've accused me of nonsense after nonsense, so you can drown me within you."

Germany looked very uncomfortable in his seat and could not meet Prussia's eyes. "It was for your own good," he said, looking at the wall.

Prussia barely succeeded in turning his cough into a laugh. "A warning would have sufficed," he said. "If your goal had been to bring back security and order, then that should have been your only goal."

"It was my only goal!" said Germany. "You see? I am trying to be nice!"

"But instead you set up camp, and threw out my people," concluded Prussia. "Doesn't look like you wanted order at all. Looks to me like you wanted power."

There was some silence in the courtroom, then. Germany, red-faced, opened his mouth a few times, but no utterance came therefrom. The rest of the members of the constitutional court looked on. The humans dealt with the messy human things. But Germany and Prussia spoke nation to nation. Prussia's argumentation - his lawyers' words - melded into one as the court battle played out. I told you my lawyers were good, thought Prussia.

Prussia had won. It was obvious, his rhetoric had been better - more powerful - there was no way around it.

The Constitutional Court would deliberate another week before they returned with their final judgement.

\--

"We reject," said the court, "the claim that your government, Mister Prussia, had violated any duties towards the Reich. Furthermore we rule that Mister Germany's government did not have the power to permanently remove your ministers from their offices, or to take over all competences of your government. Prussia is the only one authorised to represent himself among your kind, as his government is the only one authorised to do so in the federal parliament."

"You're damn right," said Prussia, satisfied. He sat back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest.

Across the hall, Germany looked sour.

"And yet," the court continued.

Prussia's heart sank.

"And yet, we hold that Mister Germany's assumption of Mister Prussia's executive power is indeed justified, as a measure to protect public security," the court said. "As such, the president did indeed have the right, under the article for emergency measures, to temporarily assign the powers of Prussia's government, and all powers relating to Prussia's governance, to Germany's federal commissioner. Thus, _we shall not interfere with the Germany's momentary control over Prussia's administration._ "

"What," said Prussia. "What do you mean?"

"They're going to do nothing," said Germany.

"But they said," Prussia protested, "they said it was unconstitutional, what you did to me!"

"Yes," agreed the court. "But we won't do anything about it."

The remainder of the meeting passed in something of a blur - if Germany was gloating, Prussia was expressly ignoring it - and it was only later, outside the courthouse, over the following weeks, that Prussia really had it explained to him, as his government struggled to cooperate with the Reich government that Germany had installed, and as the academic crowd continued to debate the matter.

One of the lawyers argued it was because the Constitutional Court was not a real, proper, full constitutional court - it didn't have the authority to review and undo unconstitutional laws, or unconstitutional acts of government. Even if they had wanted to take action, they were helpless.

Well, then what was this 'constitutional court' _for?_

It was a special tribunal, they explained, convened by the Justice of the Reich, and empowered to adjudicate conflicts between the Reich and the Länder.

But wasn't that what this was?

We need to take this to a full constitutional court, Prussia's lawyers advised him, something that explicitly has the power to undo unconstitutional acts of government.

It absolutely should not go to a full constitutional court, argued Germany's lawyer Schmitt, in the juristics papers he wrote that year. It shouldn't have even gone to any judicial review, he added - the president was completely justified in what he had done. The president, after all, was the guardian of the sacred constitution, and was to see to its upholding. Especially given the threat of attack under pluralist groups with varying ideas and varying alliances!

So power was still too centralised, Prussia thought. How could this one guy hold all the power, he wondered.

He realised that probably, Germany thought the very same about his own brother.

It had been awhile since Prussia had won a battle, but lost the war.

"It'll be okay," he confided in Baden and Bavaria, neither of whom seemed as optimistic. "We'll play it like Jena-Auerstedt. We'll regroup in a few years, and try again. How bad can it be?"

**Author's Note:**

> Bracht, the Commissioner appointed by the Reich during the Emergency decree of 20 July 1932, was supposed to be cooperating with Braun's Prussian SPD government - quite clearly summarised by the Vossische Zeitung 25.10.1932. However, in January 1933, when Hitler attained the office of Chancellor (with a coalition government, as the NSDAP had lost seats in the federal election in November 1932), Braun was removed from office, and von Papen became Prime Minister of Prussia. According to the constitution, the dissolution of the parliament could be decided by a tripartite committee of Papen, the president of the state parliament Kerrl, and the chairman of the state council, Adenauer (the same Adenauer who would later become the first Chancellor of West Germany). Adenauer resisted and left the negotiations. The two remaining members finished the job.
> 
> On 17 February 1933, Göring issued the "Shooting Decree", which allowed the ruthless use of force against political opponents. The SA, SS and Stahlhelm were appointed "auxiliary policemen". The Reichstag fire, 27 February 1933, made it possible, with the regulation for the protection of people and state, not only to override numerous fundamental rights and intensify the persecution of political opponents, but also to largely abolish the powers of the state governments. That April, they constructed the first concentration camps for political prisoners in Dachau and Oranienburg (which would later become Sachsenhausen). From relative stability in Prussia to the 3rd Reich in a little over half a year - it was literally that fast, and the rest is terrible, terrible history.
> 
> [Here's some more footnotes](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iVQWOrPFP5mlylHbgnFg6mETW_LaRp77PdYrcskypmo/edit?usp%3Dsharing&sa=D&ust=1533823753848000&usg=AFQjCNH5AV2tAiukr4JaewFv2Mdclt-F6Q) about our process, our sources, and the fun trips we made along the way.


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